My name is Michelle De Belen and I'm a current Master of Social Work graduate student at the University of Southern California's School of Social Work. My concentration is in Adult Mental Health and Wellness as I aim for my License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW). 

My main goal as your Community Outreach Specialist is to help spread awareness to the public about the mental health resources we have available by educating our local communities on the services we provide here at Cypress Counselors. I'm passionate about providing people the resources they need to overcome difficult challenges in their life. 

 

As I struggled with my diagnoses of ADD and depression as a senior in high school, I experienced stigma in my community surrounding mental health. Through my undergraduate research, I found that Filipino American female adolescents suffer the highest rates of depression and suicidal ideation compared with young women in other ethnic groups. As someone who was a part of this group, I hope to empower young women to seek the help they need. I then made it my mission to destigmatize mental illness, increase accessibility to mental healthcare, and to continue improving the quality of mental healthcare in the US.

 

 

 

-Michelle De Belen